GARDENING Questions and Answers

[fluffymoat4]

rosema said:

:)Hi Lisa will try your recipe for the ants. Incidentally I do spend a lot on the ant powder every year but never see any results.

Thanks so much.
marich

I put down ant powder down at the first sign of ants and I have never had an infestation since. Must depend where you live?

[christine]

im sick of all the daddy long legs that keep coming in when the window or doors open theres loads of the things,,,and dragen flysxxxxchris

[christine]

id love a green house, in summer craig planted seeds tomato,lettuce ect in trays in the garden ,covering them with plasic,got up next morning,all the soil and seeds were all over, some cat had used them as a toilet,well i think it was a cat??that put me right off xxchris

[Lisa]

Hi Chris, PLEASE dont tell me you kill the Mayflies and Dragonflies? You can catch them by putting a glass over them and a piece of paper under the glass, then empty them outside. If you leave a window open at night they will be attracted to the light. If you dont want creepy crawlie coming in, then put some LEMONGRASS ESSENTIAL OIL on a tissue by the window and they wont come in....... The same applies to cats - if you dont want them in your garden put teabags on sticks soaked in the oil - THEY HATE IT !!!!!

[christine]

lisa no i dont kill them, craig puts them outxxchris what u like

[marie fernandes]

:)Hi Steve, glad to say one of the two bay trees is still doing well the other one which I had to cut all the leaves off looks a little despondent but no warts. One or two big ants around just put some borax mix down, hope it works.

i have a question, although I had a lot of gardening books I have just remembered I have given most away to my daughters. The only ones I haave left are mostly for indoor plants.

I have two hydrangea bushes, which when planted about 3 or four years ago were pink., since then have flowered blue, because of my soil in front garden. At the moment the flowers are in a state of dark purple almost dying off. I want to give one of them to my daughter/ When is the best time to dig it up and should I prune it before or after digging up. They are about 3ft high. Hope you can help because I dont want her to put it into her vast garden and the bush die.

Bet you are kept busy!!

Thanks - marie

[stevenficus]

hi marie

the start of november is a good time as the growing season is over you can prune before or even when its been transplanted it should be ok either way just make sure that there has not been a major frost when replanting but early november should be ok try to shade the plant for a couple of days after replanting a bit of a cardboard screen will do this it just gives it a slight bit more protection while it beds in and put some of the soil its in now in the bottom of the hole it should be fine dont worry about you bay tree it will come back just give it a bit of shelter over the really cold months autumn is not my best time at work i go to bed at night dreaming of leaves upto 200 bags a day we clear at work during november to january mind you we compost it ourselves so i think of it as doing my bit for the environment as during january to march we put it back on the borders and beds as mulch

steve

[fluffymoat4]

Anyone know how to permanently remove toadstools? I had some growing in my front border and also in the pot of a houseplant!! These incidents happened at the same time - odd or what? Anyway, I've managed to remove the ones from the indoor plant successfully and they haven't returned. I've just been out into my front garden and there are loads of toadstools again!! This will be the fourth crop now! I'll scour my gardening books later tonight but, meanwhile, if anyone has dealt with this problem successfully I'd love to hear your comments.

[marie fernandes]

:)Thanks Steve, will take your info on board re the Hydrangeas.
I will get my husband to dig one up last wk of Oct/1st wk Nov. and I'll make sure he takes some of the original soil from under the bush with him. My daughter might even get a lovely pink hydrangea instead of the blue I recvd. As we dont know what her soil is like. I would have liked to keep it and had one blue and one pink, but dont think I would be able to keep up- putting additive in soil. The plants on my rockery, lavender, blue grape hyacinths, and the different varieties of heather do well, so I am presuming my soil is lime based.

No doube this very wet spell is not making your job easy.

marie

[stevenficus]

hi mo

the only way to get rid of them is to see what they are growing from it could be that there is some organic matter like some wood or bark in the soil i do not know if you have mulched your borders at any time with bark chippings that could cause it any way if there is any foreign objects in your soil the only way to stop it is dig it out and put a bit of fresh top soil down which is a bit of hard work there are no chemical remedies for fungi of this sort just cultural ones sorry

steve

[fluffymoat4]

Thanks Steve for the answer. Yes, I did mulch the borders, part way through Summer. Used home-made compost. Most of my neighbours have also had them at one time or another (could be something airborne?) I'll just keep digging them out.

Tommy! Move indeed - I've not long since got here in Yorkshire you cheeky thing! LOL

Babs - you and Alan differ over the balloon picture - Alan said I looked as though I had an indian outfit on (looked like feathers coming out of my head ha! ha!). He must've hated the old one so much that he couldn't wait to put the new one on quickly! LOL I still can't wait until my hair grows back properly though - I so miss it! Have you got over the flu now? Hope so anyway! It's not nice being ill is it?

[fluffymoat4]

Steve, thanks for earlier re toadstools. I did a search online earlier and found out that they exist to break down dead organic matter and recycle the nutrients - healthy gardens can't exist without them it seems! Anyway, anyone with problems of unsightly toadstools in their lawns should treat the area with an appropriate fungicide. The ones in my borders I shall begin lifting and putting on the compost heap and I shall stop worrying about them altogether now I know they are a GOOD sign!

[fluffymoat4]

Not a question nor an answer really but I can't help notice how soon my bulbs are coming through. I have quite a variety dotted about the garden and patio and am amazed that they are forcing themselves through frozen soil as if suggesting that Spring is only round the corner! Some of my wallflowers have begun flowering already too! Well if they can feel that optimistic then why shouldn't we?

The recent fall of snow was a bit of a let-down here in North Yorkshire. My little Westie had no sooner marvelled at this new phenomenon than it had melted. The only stretch that remained was in a shadier part of our driveway that led to our garage. It soon turned to ice and so I put some (expensive) rock salt down so I wouldn't slip next time I went in the garage (we keep our tumble drier and a freezer in there). I had just finished when it started raining (which would have melted the icy patch anyway). I give up!

[Lisa]

Hi Tommy & Mo, The only bulbs that are coming up here in Manchester are my daffodils. The squirrels have dug up and eaten ALL my tulip bulbs. If they werent so sweet, I'd shoot them.

clancy said:

hi mo its the same in our area bulbs showing since 2 weeks ago also buds showing on the trees and bushes tommy ox

[lin]

POOR PLANTS DON'T KNOW WHAT TIME OF YEAR IT IS, HAD ALL MINE IN BLOOM AS WELL, AND NOW MY CROCUS ARE UP, SNOWDROPS AND MANY MORE.
BEEN CUTTING BACK ALL MY SHRUBS SEVERAL TIMES THIS YEAR BE THEY DON'T SEEM TO STOP SHOOTING UP AGAIN.

LIN

[fluffymoat4]

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